Ashley seemed to freeze for a moment.

"...cook?" he asked.

"I've... I've never cooked before." he told her.

"But... I've heard that it's something one should know." he then said further.

"What is there here to cook?" he asked her.

"Like, meat or something?"

"........" Ash was silent as Reveka said what she did.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Anything I can find in the forest, huh?" he asked.

"What about meat?" he asked her further. "Do you have any to spare or use right now?" he inquired.

"Or will I need to go out and get, myself?" he asked her.

"Because I'm ready to do that." he said, cracking his knuckles.

Ashley was silent for a moment, and thought about it.

"Deer, huh?" he asked.

"Oh!" he then exclaimed.

"What about mushrooms?" he asked her.

"Mushrooms go with deer, right?' he asked further.

"I can go out and find some if you don't have any." he offered. "I even know what ones are good to eat and what ones make the belly hurt, or make you see weird things." he added proudly.

Ashley suddenly looked very happy.

"All right!" he exclaimed.

"I'll go out and get some now!" he told her excitedly.

He then looked around, decided on an area of the forest, and dashed towards it, disappearing shortly thereafter.

Little by little, Reveka was seeing what sort of rearing Ashley had.

It hadn't been a pleasant one...and it seemed that his biggest desire to be useful to... well, whomever it was that he was with.

For a bit, it was quiet. Ashley hadn't returned.

And it had been a few hours before he returned.

When he did, she saw that he was looking worse for the wear. The clothes were torn some, he had scratches all over him, and he was bleeding. Not badly, but still.

He had mushrooms, though.

An armful of them.

Ashley just sighed.

"A cat attacked me." he told her.

"Big cat." he said.

"Guess I made it mad or something, entered its territory, maybe." he reasoned.

"So we had to fight." he told her further.

"I won, though." he then said. "I let it go, though. It might have been a mother, and I didn't want to take away any cub's mother." he finished.

"Oh, and here." he then added, extending his arms.

"Found a really nice patch of them."

Ashley looked a bit confused.

"Patched up?" he asked.

"You mean my injuries?" he asked her further.

Reveka just nodded in response, causing him to smile brightly.

"Oh, thank you!" he said.

"Normally, I'm just left to heal on my own." he went on, before pausing.

"Well... unless the injuries are REALLY bad."

Ashley remained completely still as Reveka tended to his injuries, only moving when she said she was done.

"Thank you." he said.

"You're really nice." he told her.

"Why?" he then asked.

"Why are you so nice to me, when you don't know me?"

"...oh, I see." Ashley replied.

"Um... hm." he mumbled.

"Miss Encrae mentioned something like that to me once." he told her.

"...she had a name for it..." he went on.

"Um... empathy!" he then remembered.

"Is that is?" he asked.

"Thank you." Ashley said again, looking himself over.

"This is really nice." he told her.

He was then silent for a moment, thinking about something.

"Is there anything else I can do, Miss Ravka?" he asked her.

"Anything that needs to be done? Or... well, maybe help me cook?" he asked further.

"Because I don't know how to do it..." he mumbled.